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Written by Louis Weisberg, Staff writer
May 6, 2010
Gay ventriloquist Woodi Bruce poses with his alter egos Wanda Lemme and Rowdy Roach. – Photo: Courtesy
Did you hear the one about the gay ventriloquist, the bisexual corporate trainer, the straight film student and the crusty comedienne?
This joke has many punch lines, all to be revealed when the four team up as The HACK Comedy Tour to perform at Kenosha’s Club Icon on May 15. Their disparate brands of humor and ribald wit should make for an entertaining evening.
The troupe’s emcee, Flash Gorski, opens the program. She draws on her bisexuality for humor: “I’m the bacon in the LGBT sandwich,” she quips, “so I would describe my act as crisp and salty.”
A corporate trainer by day, Gorski prefers her night job. “It’s a chick magnet,” she says.
After Gorski, the next performer is Robert Francis Curtis, a stand-up comic and a film and theater student at UWM. He riffs and rants on relationships and pop culture – and, for good measure, he throws in some political impressions, including a gangsta-rap version of Sarah Palin.
Next on stage is Christy Watson, a regular at Comedy Sporz. Watson describes her act as “caustic, out-of-the-box observational humor.” Unlike some female comics who aim their sarcasm at their spouses and their periods, she says, Watson goes after the world at large.
“I’m the kind of person who thinks all Christmas children’s choir music should end in gunshots,” she explains.
Watson also does a character named Loretta, a drunken barfly who doles out advice to audience members.
Unlike her castmates, Watson is a full-time comic.
“I think so differently from a normal person that comedy is the only job that will pay me for being that weird,” she says.
The group’s maestro, Woodi Bruce, is last on the bill. A pharmacy tech by day, Bruce’s real passion is ventriloquism. His dummy alter-egos include a cockroach named Rowdy Roach, a drag queen named Wanda Lemme and a cockatoo named Floyd.
Bruce also does a stand-up routine about being gay.
“I tell the audience, ‘I’m not gay, I’m vaginally challenged,’” he says. “When I came out to my mother, she said, ‘Well, I’m not paying for your sex change.’”
Bada bing bada boom.
Bruce and Gorski met while doing a benefit for Milwaukee SAGE and they admired each other’s work. Bruce liked the fact that Gorski is bisexual, something he says is unique on comedy stages.
“If you Google bisexual comedian, you’ll find there are very few,” Gorski chimes in.
For her part, Gorski was smitten by the way Bruce takes advantage of his dummies to say things that most comedians wouldn’t dare to utter.
Despite their differing approaches to humor, these performers agree that the funniest comedy comes from universal truths.
“As Joan Rivers said, ‘I succeeded by saying what other people are thinking,’” Gorski says.
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